'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Finally Reveals How Agent Coulson Survived Being Killed Off In 'The Avengers'

After 10 episodes, the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." midseason return
Tuesday night finally gave the answer to the question everyone's
been wanting to know since the show began: how did Agent Coulson
(Clark Gregg) live after being visibly killed off in 2012's "The
Avengers"?

Head back unless you've watched last night's
episode.

As we figured, Coulson never spent any time recuperating in
Tahiti as mentioned throughout the first season.

Turns out Coulson did indeed die at Loki's hands in "The
Avengers" — and not just for a few seconds, but for days on end.
Nick Fury then sent Coulson's body in for some extensive surgery
— seven surgeries to be precise — where the agent endured
"ungodly" trauma after Fury "moved heaven and earth" to save him.

Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D. can bring people back from the
dead.

It probably would have been more believable if the show just told
us he was a clone.

However, if Coulson was brought back by some sort of alien
technology then maybe he could be a bigger concern to the
Avengers team down the line.

Here's the scene below of Coulson remembering what happened. It's
kind of difficult to watch as Coulson repeatedly asks to be
allowed to die while in surgery. We wouldn't be surprised if the
agent ever turned against S.H.I.E.L.D. after watching
this.

Here's one more scene of Coulson confronting one of the doctors
who operated on him.